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All my lack of esteem for Dente

Happy to see a good review. After all, even Viva la Vida, dear arrogant ones, wasn't exactly crap, with all the goodwill I have for you when you dismiss everything that is mainstream: no, Viva la Vida was not crap at all. Anyway, friends, this album is really good. In some tracks, I hear a sort of polished Bon Iver; they've absorbed and learned the lesson. Moreover, knowing how to write this way is the heritage of very few. Those few deserve all the success they have. If several indie bands are not on the radio, let's ask ourselves if they're capable of being there before saying it's right just because they're all about being alternative. Maybe they suck, and no one will remember them in a few years, for example. Until a few years ago, I thought The National (instead of just National) were a great band. Then I saw them live, I heard them on the radio after a couple of albums, and finally, I can say: they got on my nerves. De gustibus? Maybe. Sorry, I’ve been away for a while, I vented a bit. But I have some more beautiful things in store!!

Briefly and bluntly: it cannot be denied that the girl does rely on her musical talent, but it is equally undeniable that she has a photogenic face and that she presents herself to many as a pretty faiga.

Great review. You give a very objective overview of the Cross affair. I've always liked the care put into his production, and even the latest acoustic stuff has pleasantly surprised me; I believe he also went to the Blue Note in Milan. Then, you opened up a really interesting topic worth discussing: the mastering of many 80s records. Especially from the mid-80s. Man, you’re spot on—there’s a nice chunk of material that, due to the "cassette tape" market, had an incredibly flat sound. If I think that even masterpieces like some of the Cocteau Twins albums have never been remastered in that sense, it makes me want to pull my hair out. Coming back to this easy listening vein, in which I like to think even Matt Bianco fits, for example, Christopher Cross still has a pleasant voice and is, like all that 80s sound with delay practically on every instrument, unjustly underrated. Particularly as an interpreter: when he faced off with great songwriters, like on "Arthur's Theme", for example. And all in all, this album with "Thinking of Laura" maintains an excellent level of sentimental ballad, second only to certain productions by another great, yet unjustly underrated, songwriter, Al Stewart. Don't miss the very Eagles-like arrangements of both.

@imasoulman: you’re right to comfort yourself. That record has a stunning production, stripped-down arrangements of songs that, as you know, were partially written on unreleased material from the seventies. The album comes out with Neil's voice devastated from the previous and (perhaps overly) grandiloquent tour, which makes this one so calm and relaxing. The lyrics are magnificent and the pieces are sincere and straightforward, certainly filled with melancholy as well. Sometimes it’s a matter of taste: those tracks sound as direct and sincere to me as those from Re-actor, even though I understand it's a comparison between apples and oranges given the type of music. After all, who would have ever thought that a piece like Sample and Hold could belong to the same Neil Young with the cowboy hat, searching for the right harmonica before "Heart of Gold" in 1971... and yet... it is so. His expressive power is such that, upon reflection, he is ultimately a great experimenter. This note's for you with the bluesy jazz musicians and even Sonic Youth touring alongside him…

I suggest, speaking of steel guitar, acoustics, and simple sounds, the excellent "silver and gold," one of my absolute favorites from the 2000s, I believe.

What can I say? Let’s not ignore things from the 90s like Harvest Moon, damn. It would be a shame to overlook it. You can't talk about "evolution" from the sixties to today because, well, we know it: Neil Young has always been himself from the beginning to the end. The evolution might have been more in the 80s with those strange but interesting albums like Re-ac­tor and the fact of using Crazy Horse live with that electricity. His evolution has been in the ideas, in my opinion: from the destruction of rock and roll to social commitment, with elegance and talent. Now, perhaps he focuses a bit more on elegance by re-presenting old melodies with acoustic guitars and intelligent lyrics. I mean, can we argue with him? Isn’t this what people still listen to today: all this passion for indie acoustic (Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Iron and Wine)? I do, and the legacy he leaves us is not bad at all. Let’s hope he continues to make records and that they are all enjoyable, even if he repeats himself.

lady madonna...helter skelter...but why are these always the terms of comparison? In Italy, there seems to be little interest in the discussion about Wings and everything good McCartney has done solo. In short, enough with the Beatles. There are at least 30 years of subsequent career. Album not present, not even in the charts I believe.

In my opinion, dream pop has always been, in its best manifestations (Sundays, Cocteau Twins, and speaking of "slow," the Slowdive), a largely underrated genre. For this reason, I don't think it's right to refrain from listening to these small, interesting jewels. A phenomenon that has inspired a lot of music in recent years, in any case, and this album is no exception.

So: ARCI card: a recipe for happiness?